It's Impossible To Stop Eating This Baked Tortellini

Tortellini is underrated. It might even have an edge over the more popular ravioli. All of the little rounded pockets allow more sauce to stick to the pasta. Still, we don't use the cute and stuffed rounds enough. But we'd like to fix this—in the form of a cheesy baked casserole.

Jarred marinara sauce would work well in this recipe in a pinch, but making your own meat sauce is so worth it. And this quick recipe proves that good bolognese doesn't require hours and hours of simmering. (No offense to your cute Italian grandmother.)

Jonathan Boulton

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In my first go at developing this dish, I used tomato puree. I'm not exactly sure why, but it was the wrong choice. So I played around with my formula until it was just right. Crushed tomatoes and red pepper flakes to the rescue!

When you're reading this recipe, you'll notice that the directions don't call for boiling the tortellini. This is not an oversight. It cooks perfectly in the sauce in the oven. Magic!